Club West01: The Time Of My Life
by jadesword
Summary: AU Hakkai+Gojyo. Two men meet in a dance club. With lots of cameos! And now an ongoing series....
1.

notes:  
/ / -- italics and titles  
* * -- emphasis  
  
Club West  
  
Chapter One: The First Night...  
That morning - when he blinked at his Literature in Translation class and five dark-shadowed pairs blinked back at him - that day, he never found out till much later that it was the day everything changed.  
  
He was humble enough to admit that up to that particular point, everything seemed to be going his way. He had graduated from university with honors, earning praise from his teachers and admiration (and some envy) from his peers. He kept in touch with the few of them who refused to sever their academic ties, and was in fact serving as one of those links, having decided to become a teacher himself.  
  
His love for books had brought him to specialize in World Literature through the four years of his Bachelor's Degree. His gentleness of manner had won him many friends and admirers from all walks of academic life. Both aspects combined now to make him one of the most popular members of the English faculty, and especially among the freshman classes that he was assigned to teach.  
  
He was very lucky that year having got in his classes a bumper crop of smart, thirsty young men and women. There were some among them who read as widely as he did, or had already read at least one of the books on his required readings list. They were eager to learn and many were very articulate, capable of arguing plot points or characterizations with understanding and, in many cases, wit.   
  
This particular LIT group boasted five of the best students of the batch, who had signed up for one of the most difficult classes their freshman standing and differing curricula could offer: the study of major works of literature from across the world, all in their original languages.   
  
That morning, before heading in, Cho Hakkai had looked at his day's lesson - the first part of the /Ring of the Nibelung/ - and smiled in anticipation of what the class would think, do and say today.  
  
So he got a rather nasty shock when one student after another showed up and slumped lifelessly over his or her desk. Yaone, the brilliant young pre-med student who was daily besieged with crowds of admiring suitors and teachers, had darker circles under her eyes than usual. And Kougaiji, the most articulate and focused member of the class, was staring into space and grinning goofily.  
  
With a reluctant smile Hakkai put aside the exploits of the Norsemen and sat down, in the middle of the semicircle that the class usually formed when in session. 'And a good morning to all of you, too. May I ask about the collective lack of sleep in this room today?'  
  
The crew-cut man on the outer edge of the arc raised his hand, wearily. 'Sir?'  
  
'Yes, Dokugakuji-san?'  
  
'They've just opened the Club West.'  
  
'And what is that?'  
  
Kougaiji was snapped out of his trance by an elbow in his ribs, courtesy of Dokugakuji. 'Oh. Club West is that new dance club out on the edge of town, and everyone's been waiting for it for weeks! We heard they served up only their own secret mixes, not only at the bar but on the dance floor too. They said those were mixes that the Ibiza crowds never hear, and want to. So we went to opening night and it was everything we'd heard about, and more! We came here straight from the club, sir - I mean, Doku, Yaone, my sister Lilin and I. That place is the bomb,' he sighed.  
  
Hakkai smiled again, intrigued by the description. 'Well, what is the place like then?'  
  
This time it was Yaone who answered: 'It's big, sir, but it doesn't seem so because it gets packed so easily. It's mostly dance floor, and there's a bar that looks like an afterthought crammed into one of the corners, but at least it's protected somewhat from the speakers. The music and lights go on all night long, and no one ever seems to get tired.'  
  
'I do hope that place is clean, Yaone-san?' The young teacher was extremely liberal in his concept of reality, rejecting only a few things with a passion; drugs being one of them. He didn't even mind anyone swearing in his class. 'Nobody pulling you into corners with a stash of some kind of pill?'  
  
'The only stash they have there,' a gradually-recovering Dokugakuji answered, 'is the one of all the CDs and MDs. Frigging whole lot of them. Sir. Alcohol too - must be nice to be that rich. I never thought about sake with attar of roses. That's awfully smooth stuff.'  
  
Out of the corner of his eye he saw one more hand wave upwards, a little quicker than the others had been. 'Yes, Lilin-san?'   
  
'Come with us, sir,' and Kougaiji's younger sister looked straight at him, grinning happily. 'We're going again tonight!'  
  
'Are you sure? Nobody else here looks like they can make it,' Hakkai chuckled.  
  
'Sir, I'll be there tonight,' and the fifth student, the honey-blonde woman who was Yaone's best friend and roommate, spoke up for the first time. Her eyes shone. 'I promised my boyfriend I would.'  
  
'I envy you, Rinrei,' Yaone sighed, 'I'm not even sure if I can make it back to the dorm after class today!'  
  
'Homura and I can take you back later, don't worry.'  
  
'That's very kind, thank you very much.'  
  
'We're going back too,' Kougaiji said. 'So you can come with us tonight, sir.'  
  
'I'll think about it,' Hakkai finally said, after a moment. 'Is there a dress code?'  
  
'Funky, maybe,' Rinrei offered after a moment's thought. 'Actually, I don't think there's any. But it did look like there was too much leather last night.' There were nods of assent from everyone else in the class.  
  
'Thank you for the information, people. Now, since no one's in the mood for a discussion today we'll leave the tale of the Nibelung for next week.' Hakkai got up, peeked into the corridor, and pulled the door shut. 'In the meantime, I think you'll all be better off getting some sleep. I'll wake you up before the bell.'  
*****  
It was funny, in its own way, Hakkai thought as he looked into his closet later that afternoon. Having decided to take his students up on their offer, he was now having a crisis of confidence - at least in his wardrobe. There seemed to be absolutely nothing in the racks that would disguise the fact that he was really just a devoted young academic instead of a hard-partying night owl.  
  
Well, he did occasionally sneak a night out onto his schedule. He'd get into the battered Army-type jeep that he'd bought fresh out of college, drive thirty miles south-west to the city and quickly find himself prowling the streets in search of a good place to eat, preferably next door to somewhere the music was slow and soothing and there were lots of coffee and plush seats.  
  
Tonight promised to be something completely out of his box.  
  
The intercom unit in his room beeped and a voice sounded in the third-floor apartment: 'A Kougaiji-tachi looking for you, Mr. Hakkai?'  
  
'Coming down,' he told the security. With a rueful look at the mess he'd made of his bed linens, the young teacher took one last look at himself in the mirror and then hurried downstairs, pausing only long enough to grab his keys and coat.  
*****  
'Oh my God,' Rinrei whispered as they crawled past the door of the Club West, eyeing the long line collecting before the bouncers with no small amount of trepidation.  
  
'Looks like there're twice as many people as last night.' Homura, Rinrei's boyfriend with the mismatched blue and gold eyes and razor-sharp mind behind them, shook his head and then focused, abruptly gunning his SUV forward as he spotted a parking place.  
  
It was still some two blocks away from the club, and more cars jockeyed past them for space as they took their places at the end of the line. The music from inside reached even them, but mostly through their feet instead of through their ears - they could feel the insistent bass pounding up around them, making some of the kids ahead start doing their own moves. Certainly Dokugakuji and Lilin were feeling the beat - the taller man was bobbing his head and tapping his feet, and the girl was practically bouncing in line.  
  
Most of the crowd came from the university - Hakkai had a good memory for faces - and there were even some of the younger teachers, one of whom hailed them as they drove by.  
  
'Ya, Hakkai-san! Fancy meeting you here! Oh,' and the young woman, a lecturer at the Department of Physics, caught sight of his companions, 'your LIT class managed to drag you out here? You could do worse for companions - your students study hard and party even harder, you know that? By the way, nice outfits, all of you! See you inside!'  
  
Hakkai looked down at himself, still a little nervous about his personal definition of clubwear: a white long-sleeved shirt that laced up the front in the style of Greek fishermen, a pair of tight but comfortable gray pants, a pair of combat boots, and over all that his favorite black trench coat. The only accent was his belt, a length of fine chain links in silver that he had borrowed from a more outgoing neighbor.   
  
'Bit of advice, sir,' and Yaone added the finishing touch to her own outfit, a midnight-purple sleeveless turtleneck that ended a good inch above her waist and a low-slung pair of tight black jeans: a heavy silver necklace that fanned crystal-studded pendants down her chest. 'Roll up your sleeves, it's going to be boiling inside. And it looks better that way on you.'  
  
He did so, just as they approached the head of the line. 'Thank you, Yaone-san.'  
  
'You again!' they heard from up front as someone recognized Lilin and Dokugakuji. 'Thought you had enough, hadda kick ya out this morning!'  
  
Hakkai craned his neck and was startled to see that his students were talking to someone who looked like he *could* belong in one of his classes: a boy who looked no more than nineteen, with a shock of unruly chocolate-brown hair. He was dressed all in black leather, from the vest and fingerless glove on his right hand to the material that clung to his legs. He needed no other ornamentation than the molten gold of his huge eyes, and the honesty of his grin.  
  
'We brought you someone new tonight,' Lilin laughed, and hauled him forward. 'This is Cho Hakkai, our favorite teacher at the university. Sir, meet Son Goku. He's one of the bouncers around here, though he doesn't look it.'  
  
'Pleased t'meet 'cha,' the boy said, holding out a hand to shake. 'You can go in now, guys. If you need anything, talk to Sanzou, he's in charge tonight.'  
  
'How will we find Sanzou?' Hakkai wondered out loud as they deposited their outerwear at the coat check. 'There're too many people here to even move two steps!'  
  
'He'll find us or we'll find him,' and Kougaiji grinned. 'Pretty visible kind of guy. He has to be. I heard he's overseeing this place for his aunt, who's away on business. He may not be very social but he has to be seen, and he is.'  
  
'There he is right now - sitting on the bar.' Homura pointed out a white-clad man lighting up a cigarette, the overhead lights creating a rainbow halo on his blonde hair.   
  
Hakkai didn't know where to look any more after that. The room was packed with all kinds of people, moving to the infectious beat coming from the stage up front. A determined-looking man with very slanted eyes and sharp features was working the turntables on stage, and his mix just kept going on and on, keeping the revelers bouncing madly.  
  
Someone tugged on his rolled-up sleeve, hard, and Rinrei and Homura leaned in, sporting smiles. 'We just found some friends of ours in this crowd,' the young woman told him. 'We're going to meet them now. Please page us if you need anything, okay, sir?'  
  
'Enjoy yourselves,' Hakkai said, smiling as they moved off.  
  
The others were shortly swallowed by the gyrating crush and the young teacher, nonplussed, decided to make his way to the bar.  
  
The only spare space was the one next to the two long-haired men who were talking loudly. 'Yeah, but I think that there's no way that strategy would work!' the chestnut-braided one insisted, waving his hands. 'For one thing, that's not how I play that game, and for another thing, you're likely to get yourself killed! For fuck's sake don't you go through with it! Or at least leave me out of it if you're that determined.'   
  
'Ha, and here I thought you'd be afraid of nothing,' the redhead drawled. 'Come on, there's got to be some way I can enlist you and your silent partner on this.'  
  
'Go find someone else to screw, Sha Gojyo, I ain't biting tonight.'   
  
'Another night then,' and he waved ironically at the departing boy as he shoved past Hakkai.   
'What a waste,' the man at the bar went on, signaling to the bartender for another drink. 'Didn't show any manners either, eh?'  
  
Hakkai looked right and left and wondered if he was being addressed. 'I'm sorry, were you talking to me?'  
  
'You got shoved, didn't you? Hey, bartender, get this man something will ya?'  
  
'My name's Cho Hakkai,' and he held out his hand.  
  
The redhead took it. 'Sha Gojyo.'  
  
'Yes, I heard.'  
  
The bartender, a man with an eye-patch and orange hair, brought Hakkai his first drink of the evening, a Screwdriver; he took his time with it, looking his neighbor over discreetly.   
  
Long red hair that fell straight down, well past his shoulder blades, and shining in the lights overhead. Leopard-print sleeveless shirt, but discreet, unusual for any animal pattern. Long, long legs in black denim, the seams picked out in contrast stitching. Cowboy-style brown boots, with shiny spurs. There was something about the man besides that made other people just look at him, and it wasn't the hair.  
  
'You don't look half-bad yourself,' Gojyo suddenly said, draining his glass.  
  
'Sorry. I'm not normally that rude.' Hakkai gave him a half-smile.  
  
Just then the beat changed completely, and the crowd around them cheered, then started to dance even harder. The two of them watched as the bar emptied - the last ones to go being a tall man with blonde hair leading a boy with a silver hoop earring - and then they looked at each other.  
  
Gojyo shrugged. 'I kind of like this song myself. Wanna dance?'  
  
'You'll have to teach me,' Hakkai said. 'I don't get around that much.'  
  
'Nothing to it,' and he was pulled onto the floor, weaving and ducking through the crush until they were directly in front of the stage. Once positioned, the redhead put him at arm's length, and mouthed, 'Watch me.'  
  
It was easy, and he had always been a fast learner: soon he was dancing in sync with the other man, their movements making him think of the duels he and his students read aloud in class, two bodies perfectly matched to each other and to the music.  
  
'You're good!' Gojyo shouted over the grinding bass-beat.  
  
'So are you,' he called back, distracted.  
  
A separate part of Hakkai's mind went on watching the other man: he called attention to himself so naturally, with that hair and eyes and the very scent that surrounded him. He had been noticing that other people had been looking at him, as well, and the very thought of it made the hairs on the back of his neck rise - in fear or in surprise or in jealousy, he really didn't....  
  
Where had that come from? He was *jealous*? Could he want this man?  
  
'That's too much,' he muttered to himself, and abruptly stopped dancing.  
  
At that moment Gojyo did the worst thing he could do: he leaned into Hakkai's personal space. 'Anything wrong?'  
  
'I...I'm sorry! Please excuse me!' And he tore off through the crowd, out into the cold night. 


	2. 

notes:  
/ / -- italics and titles  
* * -- emphasis  
  
Chapter Two: ...Of the Time...  
Ten days later, Cho Hakkai found himself still, in his mind, staring at the outfit he'd worn to Club West. He'd had it washed and pressed some time before; when it returned he immediately stashed it in an obscure corner of his closet, protected against the elements by a clear-plastic garment bag.  
  
There was something about that place that troubled him. And it wasn't just the fact that his students were continuing to make regular pilgrimages to that adrenalin-drenched heaven, although he'd put his foot down after the fourth day, and had quit letting them use his LIT class as a recovery room. He noted wryly that it was only in his class that they were getting sluggish; they were still on the Wagnerian sagas, and were long overdue to tackle /The Song of Hiawatha/. Everywhere else academically, their lives were going on.  
  
Well, no, scratch that. *Someone* about that place was troubling all kinds of heck out of meek, mild-mannered Professor Cho Hakkai. And that person had gotten to him so much, he thought that even if he found a costumed superhero lurking under his skin, he'd still not be able to get away from him.  
  
He *still* didn't know why he had run away. He *still* didn't understand why he had felt so possessive about that red-haired man. He *still* didn't feel comforted by his routine of books, lecture halls and eager-faced students.  
  
He *did* know by now that it wouldn't bother him to find himself gay. Which was probably the only good he'd had out of this adventure so far.  
  
'Sir!'  
  
Hakkai snapped out of his reverie and looked up; there was a paper airplane on his desk, and the bell was ringing outside for second period.   
  
Kougaiji and Lilin were leaning on opposite sides of the door into the classroom, watching their teacher with their arms crossed in a way that made them look more like twins.   
  
He unfolded the airplane, and there were three words on the paper, in the younger man's firm handwriting: /Just do it./  
  
Lilin's looping script at the bottom: /Faint heart never won anything, period./  
  
'I'll think about it,' he said again, this time into an empty room.  
*****  
He decided to pay Club West a visit, at a more convenient time - meaning he didn't have to get into any more exotic costumes, stand in line and face a body check.   
  
There was a bookstore just around the corner from the club, and he loitered there one late afternoon, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of the elusive owner of the most popular nightspot in the college town: the woman who went by the moniker Suon. He'd done his research, just like any other academic; he'd found out that she lived near her club, and walked there for personal inspections every day she was in town.   
  
And Yaone had confirmed to him that she was indeed present and accounted for today.  
  
So he stepped out of the bookstore and watched as a handsome woman walked past him and its glass front, stiletto heels clicking as if she owned the sidewalk. She wore a blazing white power suit, its long skirt seriously spoiled by the sky-high slit up the left side. Her wavy, thick hair was tied into a high ponytail, and just so everyone knew for sure who she was, there was a gold pin on her lapel that said /Club West/.  
  
She walked past him for about six to seven meters before looking over her shoulder with a sultry smile. 'Looking for me?'  
  
'Yes, actually,' and Hakkai introduced himself. 'I'm...kind of looking for someone who comes to your club regularly. I was wondering if you were familiar with the name Sha Gojyo?'  
  
Suon thought about it for a moment. 'Oh. Red-haired guy who comes in every night like he's looking to get laid?'  
  
Hakkai hoped he wasn't blushing. 'You could say that.'  
  
'Well, there's a very good reason why he's at the club. One you won't hear, not even from God Himself if you asked Him - unless I get to the club within ten minutes. I'm inspecting the place today, have to see if my people are keeping the rats out. If you're interested, you can come along with me.' She turned sharply on her heel and started walking again.  
*****  
'Where's my nephew?' Suon's voice echoed again and again in the emptiness of the club. And someone fell off the bar counter in surprise, with a *thump* that echoed again and again. 'Hello, Club West, I'm looking for my neffy!'  
  
Out of sheer curiosity Hakkai looked over the bar, and there was Son Goku sprawled on the floor in an ice-bucket puddle. The blistering stream of curses that resulted from that mishap didn't get to him, but the sight of a blonde man smacking the boy with a large paper fan did.  
  
'Shut up, you, and yell at someone to clean up the mess,' the man said in a flat voice. 'And move it. There's an extra set of clothes in your locker, get changed before you get a cold and give it to everyone who comes in tonight.'  
  
'Aa.' Goku picked himself up off the floor, bestowed a warm smile upon the man who'd whacked him, and left, with a vague wave in Hakkai's direction.  
  
Suon spotted her nephew standing on the edge of the icy puddle and immediately swarmed all over him, either expertly avoiding or completely ignoring his martial-arts-style blocks. 'How've you been, dear, I've missed you so much! Did you keep this place running okay while your dear auntie has been out and about? Are we making money? Keeping your nose clean?'  
  
'Get. Off!' Sanzou finally extricated himself, and then with one word answered nearly all of his aunt's questions: 'Yeah.'  
  
'Well, that's good to know,' and Suon resumed her brisk, businesslike manner. 'Oh right. There's someone here who wants to hear about your resident redhead, womanizer and troublemaker. Or I hear he's quieted down of late? Cho Hakkai from the university, meet my nephew Genjo Sanzou. Give the man a drink, Sanzou, talk his ears off if you ever find yourself capable of picking up that skill. Help him any way you can, hear? You know, this place looks like my kind of dump. I may even be here tonight....' And she stalked off.  
  
'Orders, orders. Well. Saw you dance with him...week ago was it?' Sanzou said suddenly. One of the club's other staff had brought down a couple of bottles of beer, and they were both grateful for the cold amber liquid. 'Yeah, around that, second night we were open. Shien! Zeon! Anyone of you here?'  
  
The eye-patched bartender climbed down into the middle of the club from the ceiling catwalks. 'What now? I have to take inventory.'  
  
'You can take inventory and answer questions at the same time, Zeon. Someone here wants to know about Gojyo. What the hell happened to him since ten days ago, that sort of thing. Might well be talking to the perp. Have to go check up on the monkey, he hasn't come back yet.'  
  
'Let me help as well,' and another man walked in, reaching over the counter with one long arm to grab a bottle for himself. 'Both with the questions and the inventory. I heard Ms. Suon and Mr. Sanzou. I'm Shien, the resident DJ of this club. I remember your face well, you were here on our second night and you danced with Mr. Gojyo. I saw you run, by the way. What would you like to know?'  
  
'You all seem to know him somehow,' Hakkai said tentatively.  
  
'Shouldn't we?' and Zeon started washing glasses. 'He holds the mortgage on this building, *and* owns a quarter-stake in the club itself. Wouldn't be here without him. Wouldn't want to know how he came by all that money, either, though I heard once he just got really lucky at the casinos.'  
  
'That's about as much of his past as is relevant to the current question,' Shien went on. 'As for the rest, well, he *has* been a little down lately. I believe that would be ever since you showed up - and left, Mr. Hakkai.'  
  
'Oh, I remember something,' Zeon suddenly said. 'There was that deal of his that fell through that same night. I thought he was trying to talk to that kid about lifting the mortgage on the lot. No idea why the kid was so against it though.'  
  
'That may be so, but it's not relevant either. The logic seems unassailable here,' and Shien held up his fingers. 'Ten nights ago Mr. Hakkai and Mr. Gojyo met, and within half an hour one of them has vanished into the night, leaving the other looking rather like he'd been told that he needed a frontal lobotomy within the hour.'  
  
Zeon leaned in for an aside: 'Forgive his humor, he dropped out of med school some years ago and never forgot anything he learned.'  
  
Shien went on, undisturbed but for a long gulp of beer. 'Mr. Gojyo is out of sorts every night thereafter. And suddenly you come here and ask about him. There aren't very many conclusions that can be drawn from that.'  
  
'I haven't come here to ask any one of you to help me aside from this,' Hakkai said after a short silence. 'It's just that I thought I owed it to myself to find out what happened on his side after that night. You saw parts of the story, so I don't mind telling you that I've been just as unsettled as you're telling me he has been.'  
  
'Hey, man, it's your life,' and Zeon took off his apron, hanging it on a peg behind him. 'Might be nice if we could help, and that's about all we're willing to do about it.'  
  
'I don't mind that either. In fact I'm very grateful for all of your help. Please give my thanks to Ms. Suon, and to Sanzou and Goku.'  
  
'You're welcome,' Shien said as he left.  
*****  
Exhibit one: that makeshift clubbing outfit, now laid out on top of his bed.  
  
Exhibit two: one unfolded paper airplane.  
  
Exhibit three: a collection of related facts about one certain Sha Gojyo.  
  
And, the /prima facie/ evidence: the currently confused state of mind Cho Hakkai was in.  
  
What good was it going to do either of them to show up tonight?  
  
On one hand - he could be in for just about everything good that could possibly exist in the world, even if for just one night. On the other - he could be in for just about the worst disappointment in his life, plus there was the possibility that the other guy might just come gunning for him instead. There had been more than one hint of a less-than-savory past to the red-haired man in the things he'd heard about him, and it was definitely putting him on tenterhooks.  
  
In the end it was Lilin's advice that won the day (and not so much her brother's).  
  
Hakkai put on the outfit, exchanged his trench for a short leather jacket, and walked out with the keys to his jeep.  
*****  
Standing on the line outside the doors to Club West, Hakkai decided it had been a good idea to leave the jacket behind in the jeep - one less place to be pried into for the usual inspection, and he didn't have to bother with the coat check either.  
  
The problem with that was that everyone seemed to be checking him out. Tonight he'd decided to wear the shirt half unlaced and with the sleeves unrolled, and that meant he was attracting more than his fair share of speculative looks.  
  
A healthy-looking Goku opened the doors for him, into the packed cavern that was Club West.  
  
Shien and Zeon looked to have been watching out for him, because as soon as he came within eyeshot of both they pointed out his quarry: red hair, strange eyes, that unbelievably sexy demeanor.  
  
Tonight Sha Gojyo was dressed in white leather: a sleeveless, wide-necked shirt that clung to his shoulders and torso, long, long pants, and wide bands around his neck, left wrist and right shoulder.   
  
Cho Hakkai squared his own shoulders and approached him. 'Hello. Would you like to dance?'  
  
As if on cue Shien changed his mix, putting in a deeper, more sensual backbeat and a strong rhythm riff. Sensuality and courage. /Just do it./  
  
'Come back to taunt me again? You've wasted a lot of my time, I ought to charge you something, anything. Or I should just kill you, seriously.' The expression on the redhead's face was a mix of anger and eagerness and...something more. His eyes raked him, up and down and again, really seeing him for the first time. 'Wasted the last ten nights refusing everyone else. I was hoping you would come back. Or I'd have gone looking for you only I didn't really find anything I could hunt you down on. How was I supposed to know you were a *professor* at the university? I'm pretty sure there was no one else who could have told me that, and the source himself was unwilling that night. So what is this?'  
  
Hakkai warmed to him anyway. 'Maybe I'm here to make amends. And maybe I'm here to challenge you. You've come this far, and your goal may not be so far away as you think. If you care for it still.'  
  
Gojyo actually missed a beat in his dancing, his eyes had suddenly gone so glazed over. 'God, you're evil,' he said breathlessly, leaning into his partner's personal space. 'And He can strike me down now, 'cause I swear there's nothing else I could care for just about now.'  
  
'That's what I wanted to hear.' And then Hakkai leaned into him, hauling him close by his neckline and kissing him as soundly as he knew how.  
  
The lights went down on the still-dancing crowd.  
*****  
'Tell me what you see,' Sanzou muttered around his cigarette. 'This's killing my night vision.'  
  
Goku squinted into the darkness. 'Looks like something we never tried.'  
  
'That's funny, thought we tried everything already.'  
  
'What they're doing, Sanzou? It's something I never saw before.'  
  
'Keep watching, you could learn something.' 


	3. 

notes:  
/ / -- italics and titles  
* * -- emphasis  
  
Epilogue: ...Of My Life  
  
Morning sunlight streamed in through the windows, and Cho Hakkai tried to shield his eyes against the sudden invasion.  
  
Honest. He tried to.  
  
Except that the arm he normally used was pinned down by some weight - and instantly he tensed for fight-or-flee. But all that got him was an incoherent murmur and a sound of rustling bed sheets.  
  
The moment he looked down he remembered everything, and a smile crinkled up the corners of those same eyes.  
  
Sha Gojyo was sprawled out over him, his red-capped head pillowed on his shoulder, and both of his arms serving to pin his own to the mattress. And he was naked, too - gloriously so, just as he was, and he seemed to glow in the light that now filled the tiny bedroom of the apartment.  
  
He still remembered everything after that stormy first kiss, even after someone had suddenly decided to dim the house lights so that only random flashes of color shot out over the dancers, and strangely-colored ones at that, making for some strange, dimly-remembered waking dream.  
  
Just standing there and kissing this other man made him light-headed although he had deliberately not decided to pay the bar a visit. And from the taste of him, so had Gojyo, and that knowledge had made them both even more drunk on each other.  
  
Somehow they had managed to escape the confines of Club West, and Hakkai knew he hadn't done anything to warrant repairs on the jeep as they drove back to his place.   
  
Once inside, they'd stopped and faced each other across the length of the bedroom.  
  
The red-haired man looked wild and wily and untamed under the club lights, sure in himself and completely capable of either out-drinking, out-sexing, or outright killing anyone who came to challenge him. Here, he was no less feral, no less sensual, and he fit *beautifully* into even the modest décor, even the white leather and the cocky uplift of his mouth.   
  
It made Hakkai feel rather like the golden-haired little girl who'd found something that was /just right/.  
  
He had no idea of how he looked to the other man in this place, what was practically his version of home turf, besides the almost reverential whisper as they began to strip each other, the motions gentle and trusting: 'You're absolutely everything I ever looked for.'  
  
Things got *very* blurry after that, and his smile widened fractionally - the memories wouldn't be in his mind, but in his hips and his fingertips and the hollow in his throat, and all over his skin.  
  
He fervently hoped it was the same for the other man.  
  
'Do you always start thinking so early in the morning,' and with an effort Gojyo raised himself onto his elbows, his words slurring a little, but coherent all the same. 'Cho Hakkai. You're a tease, and you're gorgeous, and you were wonderful last night, and...what now? Where is this going?'  
  
Hakkai quit smiling and faced him seriously. 'Well, how about...we fill in the blanks, Sha Gojyo?'  
  
'The blanks?'  
  
'What I don't know about you. Everything you want to know about me. We can try finding it all out if you want. Of course I could make some coffee right now and when you finish your cup you could walk out of here and never return.' He reached out and snagged a handful of crimson silk, rubbing it between his fingers. 'Although if I have this feeling of being completed by you - and I remember you felt the same last night - I don't see why you should do that.'  
  
'What would you call it, Professor, being fucking stupid?'  
  
Hakkai allowed himself a slight chuckle. 'Maybe.'  
  
There was a slight flurry of movement as Gojyo adjusted himself - to end up lying stretched out beside him, arms behind his head. 'You know,' and the redhead smiled, 'I've been called stupid lots of days in my life. Maybe it's high time I quit. You could teach me something.'  
  
'Yes, and I might learn something from you - the learning process never ends.'  
  
'Let's go back to the club tonight.'  
  
Hakkai laughed outright. 'Only if you'll show me a proper definition of clubwear - my shirt's about had it, I'm afraid.'  
  
'I can show you a few more definitions you might be interested in,' and Gojyo rolled over so that he was on top.  
  
'I'd like that very much....' 


End file.
